78 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



have described, than any man can from five thousand, kept 

 in the usual way, and allowed a wide range, quality taken 

 into account. 



Question. What do you feed to your poultry ? 



Mr. Kinney. It would take me some time to tell what I 

 feed, but I can state my practice generally. My morning 

 feed consists of two quarts Indian meal, four quarts good 

 wheat shorts (the coarser the better), and two quarts ground 

 scraps. Beef scraps are best, thoroughly scalded by pour- 

 ing into the pails a good deal of boiling water, and stirring it 

 until well mixed ; then it is left to cool, and should be pretty 

 stiff when cool enough to feed. For a change, I use ground 

 oats instead of shorts once a week, and ground buckwheat 

 once a week. This amount feeds one hundred laying hens in 

 the morning, and they get as much more bulk of green food ; 

 also cabbage (green globe Savoy is the best variety) , or mashed 

 turnips, mangolds, or potatoes, raw. About half-past two 

 p. m., I feed the same bulk of dry food, — the coarse part of 

 cracked corn (I riddle out the fine part and scald it with my 

 morning feed), and wheat, equal quantities, and two quarts of 

 shelling, — pulverized oyster shells, bone, or old mortar, — 

 thoroughly mixed together and scattered amongst leaves or 

 straw, so the fowls will have to scratch and hunt pretty busy 

 to find it. Once or twice a week, I use buckwheat or oats 

 instead of wheat. I occasionally boil a mess of potatoes, and 

 mix my meal and shorts with them, and sometimes boil my 

 grain. They like most anything for a change. People who 

 have milk, can better afford to feed it to hens than hogs. If 

 you scald the feed with milk, they do not need much meat or 

 animal food. There are no two things nearer alike in their 

 constituent parts than eggs and milk, so what will make 

 milk will make eggs. Give your hens poor, mouldy grain 

 and dirty water, and they will give you poor eggs and few of 

 them, and the}- will become sickly, and it will take but little 

 to cause death. If hens are properly fed on strong, good 

 food, and properly watered, and otherwise cared for, they will 

 be well and strong, and lay good, nutritious eggs, and plenty 

 of them. Select your food for your fowls with as much care 

 as you would for yourself, and give them nothing to eat or 

 drink that you would not relish on your own table, and do 



